Two deaths in Dublin and Mid West in last two days may be linked to deadly nitazene 

The HSE issued a warning about the drug on Friday night after a number of overdoses in Limerick city and county, Galway and Dublin in recent days. The warning came after the National Drug Treatment Centre confirmed nitazene in yellow, round counterfeit benzodiazepine tablets associated with the overdoses.

Authorities here have been expecting tablet forms to arrive in Ireland, as they have been present in the North and Britain.

The UK’s National Crime Agency has previously reported a large number of deaths connected to the drug.

Professor Eamon Keenan, HSE National Clinical Lead, Addiction Services, told the Irish Examiner on Saturday afternoon: “We don’t have the exact number of overdoses at the minute. What we have identified was that there was an unusual pattern of overdoses in the Midwest, Dublin and in Galway that alerted us.” 

He said that yellow tablets were first linked to the overdoses, but he said there has now also been a link made to white tablets.

He continued: “There has certainly been a suspicion of one death associated with it, and another one that we are concerned about. One was in the Midwest and in the Dublin region, on Thursday and into Friday.” 

Sources say dealers are targeting vulnerable drug users, including heroin users, and not a wider market, but the fear is that the net could expand as tablets are involved.

A previous raft of overdoses in Dublin and Cork earlier this year were linked to heroin powder.

Professor Keenan said: “This is very different – it is tablets this time. A lot of overdoses happen with tablets and it can be difficult for us to say that a specific overdose was associated with a nitazene when tablets are involved in so many.” 

He added: “This was coming. These tablets have been seen in Northern Ireland, they have been seen in the UK. It was only a matter of time before they arrived on the Irish market.”

Professor Keenan said toxicology testing will be crucial to proving nitazene was central to the two deaths.

“Somebody may have taken other substances and mixing drugs can cause problems and difficulties. It is very hard for me to say definitely that it (nitazene) is the cause of death but we have suspicions about one and the other needs further investigation.” 

He said the 57 overdoses in Dublin and 20 in Cork late last year helped addiction services to be in a state of preparedness for the current overdoses.

“Very quickly, when this pattern emerged and we had the suspicious deaths, we were able to get an alert out and we were able to analyse the substances which was really, really key and then put out our alert with posters going to all our networks, homeless service providers, emergency accommodation providers.” 

Garda sources are worried that the supply of nitazenes on the Irish market will increase as the year progresses, while heroin stockpiles deplete, with law enforcement agencies across Europe sharing the concern.

One source said: “Cartels don’t care, it is all about maximising profits.” 

While one drug dealing network was linked to the incidents in Dublin and Cork last November and December, it is not yet clear who is responsible for the distribution of the tablet form of the drug this time, with sources saying “it will take time” to figure out.

Information has also been provided to emergency departments in relation to nitazenes to help raise awareness among medical professionals.

A clinic in Limerick on Saturday morning also helped spread the word to drug users about the emergence of nitazenes in tablet form, said Prof Keenan.

Nitazenes are up to 25 times more potent than fentanyl, the much-feared synthetic opioid which has caused death and destruction in North America.

Naloxone is a prescription-only medication used as an antidote to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drugs like heroin, morphine, methadone and synthetic opioids like nitazene.

Prof Keenan said it is important to get naloxone into the communities being targeted with nitazenes.